Meat curing method



l aientecl May 1, 1%34 lliEA'E CURING METHOD Levi Scott Paddock,Chicago, Ill, assignor to Swift and Company, fihicago, ill, acorporation of lllinois No Drawi g.

Application July 13, 1931 Serial No. 550,623

2 Claims.

This invention to a novel method of curing meat products particularlycharacterized by producing, in addition to the usual cured m atcharacteristics, a desirable uniform red color for the lean portionsthereof.

In marketing meat products it has been found that customers demand meatproducts which possess a bright red color for the lean portions, andalthough meats which do not possess a bright red color may be in a verrespect as good as red meats it is necessary to cater to this relorencein order to successfully overcome the sales resistance ofiered thereby.The meat packers on this account exert every effort to produce meatproducts which possess t1 e desirable red appearance referred to.

Accordingly it is an object of ,this invention to provide a process bywhich meat products of bright red appearance are produced withoutdifficulty or exception and in all cases the color or" the meat productsso is uniform throughout.

In order to assist in the understanding of this invention it is deemedadvisable to point out that meat cures may be broadly divided into twotypes, the first of which known as the wet cure and the second of whichknown as too dry cure. In the first case the curing reagents are used indry, crystalline form, whereas in the wet cure they are used insolution. The conventional curing reagents are sodium chloride, sodiumnitrate and sugar. These reagents are used ex tensively today commercialpractice for dry cures.

It has been found that the familiar red color of the lean of cured meatsis due to the presence of what known as nitrous hemoglobin, which isproduced by a reaction between a nitrite such as sodium nitrite andhemoglobin which exists in meat. The nitrite which enters into thisreaction is present in the cures as now practiced in variable quantitieswhich cannot be accurately determined and regulated because it is foundthat the nitrite present exists as a result OJ. a breaking down actionor" the nitrate used as a curing reagent by certain bacterial actionwhich takes place during the curing process. Inasrnuch as the bacterialaction cannot be regulated or controlled, the quantity of nitriteproduced varies so widely in similar curing processes that oftentimes acertain percentage of the meat cured comes out with an undesirable graycolor instead of the preferred bright red color.

In recent years the wet cure process has been modified to a slightextent so as to include a small quantity of a suitable nitrite in thecuring solution in addition to the necessary curing nitrate, so as toassure the presence or the amount or" nitrite necessary to producenitrous hemoglobin and the consequent bright red color.

In this slightly modified process reliance is not placed upon the actionof the bacteria to assure the presence of the proper amount of nitrite.A corresponding modification of the usual curing process is notpractical for dry cures because of the powerful reaction on the meatresulting from the presence of nitrites in concentrated form. This makesfor considerable difficulty, because most of the liner grades of meats,such as high grade bacon, are cured by the dry cure and consequently insuch cases complete reliance must be placed on the unsatisfactorybacterial action for the production of the required amount of nitrite?The result is that a certain percentage of gray products results.Another marked disadvantage results from reliance upon the uncontrolledaction of the bacteria on the nitrate, which is the liability of thebreaking down action of the nitrate into nitrite going too far,resulting in detrimental effects on the flavor and. quality of the curedmeat product. The nitrate is essential and cannot be eliminated becauseit performs a very definite and valuable function as a preservative.

Accordingly the present invention provides for the separate andindependent step in the treating process of soaking off-color or graycured meats in a dilute solution of a suitable nitrite after thecustomary curing process has been completed. By this method thesubsequent soaking treatment is not required for all meat products asthose which possess the desirable red color produced by the nitriteresulting from the bacterial action in the curing treatment need not befurther treated.

In practice it is preferable to employ sodium nitrite, but of courseother nitrites, such as for instance potassium nitrite, can be used. Itis preferable to employ a one-tenth per cent solution of sodium nitritein water, usually in portions one part of sodium nitrite solution toapproximately one part of meat. The soaking period may be variedaccording to the results desired, the character of the meat and thestrength of the solution, and therefore the present invention should notbe limited to solutions of any particular strength nor to soakingperiods of any particular length of time. However, as a matter ofillustration, good results have been obtained with the one-tenth percentsolution of sodium nitrite with a soaking period of approximately fourhours.

It should therefore be understood that the present invention relates toa process of curing meat products by a dry process in the usual mannerincluding the subsequent step of treating off-color or gray products bysubsequent soaking thereof for a desired period in a dilute solution ofa suitable nitrite, such as sodium or potassium nitrite.

By the subsequent nitrite soaking treatment and the consequent assuranceof good color on all of the meat products produced, conditions in thecuring treatment can be regulated to avoid the danger of excessivebacterial action in breaking down the nitrate into excessive and harmfulquantities of nitrite. This control can be exercised in the presentinvention at a sacrifice of producing good red color, as the color maybe subsequently produced in the final soaking treatment.

I claim:

1. The process of curing meats, including the following steps: first,conducting the customary dry curing treatment, and, secondly, soakingthose products so cured which do not possess the desired red color in aWeak solution of a suitable nitrite.

2. The method of treating meat which has been dry cured which consistsin immersing the dry cured meat in a nitrite containing pickle until thedesired color has been developed.

LEVI SCOTT PADDOCK.

